The present invention lies in the field of water fountain displays and especially a water pump arrangement which constitutes an improvement of the arrangement shown and described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,352 issued May 26, 1981.
The arrangement described in my prior patent utilized two separately operated motor driven pumps for supplying water to a plurality of fountain display nozzles and a valving arrangement whereby operation of both pumps supplied water to the nozzles at a maximum rate, operation of one pump supplied water at two thirds maximum rate, and operation of the second pump supplied water at one third maximum rate.
While the foregoing arrangement of pumps and valves permitted a variety of rhythmic visual effects in a fountain display, the heights of the water ejected from all the nozzles at any one time was fixed and uniform.
My present invention utilizes three or more pumps and an arrangement of valves which permits a plurality of nozzles to be simultaneously supplied with varying volumes of water to produce at any one time a display of jets of water of varying heights.
My pumps may be driven by electric motors as shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,352 with the motors above the surface of the pool of water containing the fountain display and the pumps themselves beneath the surface of the water. However, my pumps may also be driven by water-submersible motors which I now prefer.
The use of three separately controllable pumps has several advantages. The three pumps can be of the same capacity, while my two pump system required one large capacity pump and one pump of smaller capacity. By using a separate check valve and gate valve for each pump, I can control the height of each of the fountain spray nozzles along the main water supply pipe.
My improved fountain display includes at least four water nozzles spaced along a main water supply pipe and at least three electric motor operated water pumps connected at separate entry points along the main supply pipe and a check valve between each one of the pumps and the main water supply pipe.
My improved fountain display also includes an independently controllable and incrementally variable gate valve located between each pump and the main water supply pipe. The main water supply pipe may also contain a number of check valves located between each of the entry points for water supplied by the pumps.